Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his very measured remarks. I agree that this should not be a partisan issue that divides the House. I have been encouraged to hear colleagues make quite clear that they intend to support their opposition of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement. We heard the parsing by the Minister of Foreign Affairs that there were some Canadians who, uninformed, believed that supporting BDS was helpful and not hateful.
Could the member comment on a quote from an American academic? I am sure he is familiar with the writings of As’ad AbuKhalil, who is a leading proponent of the BDS campaign. He has written:
...the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel....That should be stated as an unambiguous goal. There should not be any equivocation on the subject. Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel.
Would my colleague explain to some Canadians who support the BDS campaign that they may be used as tools of hateful propaganda?